President Park Geun-hye ordered broadcasting regulators Monday to ensure that the industry won’t fall into the hands of a handful of conglomerates, saying diversity and fairness are key to revitalizing the broadcasting sector.Park issued the instruction during a joint policy briefing by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korea Communications Commission.She said the broadcasting industry strongly influences the economy and is directly related to people’s everyday lives.“Cong

South Korean stocks closed higher on Monday thanks to net buying by foreign investors and institutions, who kept alive last week’s modest growth momentum. The South Korean won gained against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index, starting the day in positive territory, gave up some of its gains to end at 1,946.36, up 0.31 percent, or 6.08 points, from Friday’s close. Trading volume on the main market was relatively light at 211.72 million shares, with 3.36 trillion won

Samsung Electronics, the nation’s largest electronic goods maker, filed a lawsuit for libel against Dyson, a U.K. vacuum cleaner manufacturer, claiming that the British company tarnished its reputation, according to industry sources on Sunday. Samsung took the case to the Seoul Central District Court on Friday.The move came after Dyson withdrew its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung. The compensation claimed is estimated to be 10 billion won ($9.4 million), based on Samsung’s brand valu

South Korean short tracker Park Seung-hi won the bronze medal in the women's 500 meters on Thursday at the Sochi Winter Olympics. In a frenetic race that saw three of the four finalists wiped out, Park recovered to win South Korea's first short track medal in Sochi. After getting called for a false start, Park charged out in front for an early lead. Before the skaters could even complete the first lap, Elise Christie of Britain took out Arianna Fontanta of Italy while jostling for po

An explosion of an ammonia tank pipeline at a dairy and ice cream production and storage plant resulted in one death and three injuries, local emergency services said Thursday.The explosion took place at a plant owned by Binggrae Co. at around 1:05 p.m. that caused at least 1.5 tons of ammonia be released into the environment."Emergency efforts to contain the explosion and the subsequent leak of the chemical compound by the fire department and the military produced limited results," one official

China's auto sales growth tumbled to 7 percent in January amid an economic slowdown and curbs imposed to fight smog and traffic.Drivers in the world's biggest auto market bought 1.85 million passenger vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Thursday. It was the first time monthly sales surpassed 1.8 million.Auto sales growth is forecast to decelerate sharply from last year's 15.7 percent expansion to about 8 to 10 percent. Sales grew 17 percent in December.Chinese leader

A former South Korean student activist at the centre of a notorious miscarriage of justice in the era of military rule was acquitted Thursday in a retrial of abetting a fellow activist's suicide.Kang Ki-Hoon was convicted in 1992 of aiding activist Kim Ki-Sul to set himself on fire and leap to his death from a university building in protest at the military-backed administration of then president Roh Tae-Woo.He was also found guilty of forging Kim's will and was sentenced to three years in prison

Korea dropped out of the top 60 in FIFA rankings for the first time in nearly two decades.According to the February ranking unveiled by FIFA on Thursday, South Korea slipped eight spots to No. 61.South Korea has lost its last two international matches: 4-0 to Mexico on Jan. 29 and then 2-0 to the United States on Feb. 1.Among member nations of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), South Korea is trailing five countries: Iran (38th), Japan (50th), Australia (53rd), Uzbekistan (57th) and the Uni

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Asia on Thursday on a mission aimed largely at easing tensions between China and its smaller neighbors over territorial disputes and exploring ways to restart long-stalled talks on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons.On his fifth trip to Asia as America's top diplomat, Kerry will be visiting South Korea, China and Indonesia, where officials traveling with him said he will be making the case for reducing regional acrimony over competing claims in t

Samsung Electronics, the nation’s largest handset maker, is set to unveil “bent” smartphones as a Galaxy variant this year based on the fresh investments its affiliate Samsung Display will be making in flexible panel production, industry sources said Monday. “The bent smartphones will be rolled out as a Galaxy variant with a few million units at the end of this year, initially taking aim at the niche market,” said Song Jong-ho, an analyst at Seoul-based KDB Daewoo Securities. Bent displays are a

10일 업계에 따르면 삼성디스플레이가 올해 1분기 플렉시블 A3라인에 투자하면서 하반기에 곡면 스마트폰이 출시될 것으로 전망된다. KDB 대우증권의 송종호 연구원은 “하반기에 출시되는 곡면 스마트폰의 출하량은 2~3백만 대 정도로 예상한다. 주요 모델이 아닌 시장을 시험하기 위한 테스트용으로 틈새시장을 겨냥한 제품이 될 것”이라고 말했다.올해 선보이는 곡면 스마트폰은 작년 CES에서 선보였던 3면을 디스플레이로 사용할 수 있는 ‘윰’ 기술이 적용된다. 업계는 삼성이 배터리 문제를 해결하지 못해 금년 내 완전히 휘는 스마트폰을 선보이기는 어려울 것으로 보고 있다. 그러나 종이처럼 접었다 펼 수 있는 폴더블 스마트폰은 내년 하반기에는 양산할 수 있을 것으로 전망된다. 소현철 신한금융투자 연구원은 “내년에 폴더블 스마트폰은 2천~3천만대 정도 양산할 수 있을 것”이라고 전망했다. 삼성전자 권오현 대표이사는 지난 11월 애널리스트 데이에서 “2015년에 접을 수 있는 디스플레이를 출시할 계

LG Electronics has provided four high-speed battery chargers for Google’s electric vehicle plug-in charging stations in a bid to make headway in the automotive industry while strengthening its relationship with Google, industry sources said on Sunday. LG said it did not manufacture the chargers, and that they were made by another domestic firm. The deal appeared to have been discussed in detail in October 2013 when Google chairman Eric Schmidt visited LG Electronics’ Incheon campus, where LG’s a

미국에서 급발진 문제로 수사를 받던 토요타가 벌금 10억 달러 (약 1조755억원) 이상을 내고 기소를 면할 전망이라고 월스트리트저널이 보도했다. 토요타는 급발진 결함 문제를 미국 당국에 거짓으로 보고하거나 부실하게 알렸다는 의혹을 받아 4년째 연방 검찰의 수사를 받고 있다. 조안 클레이브룩 전 고속도로교통안전국(NHTSA) 국장은 WSJ과의 인터뷰에서 “형사 제재를 피하려고 안간힘을 써왔던 만큼 이번 협정이 성사된다면 기념비적 사건이 될 것”이라고 설명했다. 토요타는 지난 2009년 미국에서 급발진 논란에 휘말리기 시작해 집단 소송을 낸 원고들에게 우리 돈 1조1000억여원을 물어주고 차량 1만대 이상을 리콜했다. (khnews@heraldcorp.com) <관련 영문 기사> Toyota close to $1 bln deal to settle U.S. probe –WSJ Toyota Motor Corp is close to a deal

Toyota Motor Corp is close to a deal to pay $1 billion to settle a U.S. criminal investigation into how it disclosed customers' complaints about unintended acceleration years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources.Toyota could reach a deal with U.S. authorities within weeks, the Journal quoted the sources as saying, ending a four-year probe into one of the Japanese automaker's most embarrassing international episodes.The deal under negotiation could still colla

Taiwan's smartphone maker HTC said Saturday it has signed a patent and technology collaboration agreement with Finnish phone giant Nokia to end all pending patent litigation between them.Under the deal, HTC will make payments to Nokia and the collaboration will involve HTC's LTE patent portfolio to further strengthen Nokia's licensing offering, a company statement said.The companies will also explore future technology collaboration opportunities, HTC said, adding that the full terms of the agree

기시다 후미오 일본 외무상이 7일(현지시간) 미국 워싱턴DC에서 존 케리 미국 국무장관과 면담 후 한•일 관계 회복을 위해 노력하겠다고 말했다. 기시다 장관은 회담직후 공동 기자회견에서 “한•일 관계에서 어려운 문제들이 있지만 한국은 일본의 중요한 이웃국가”라고 말했다. 그는 이어 일본 정부는 “광범위한 견지에서 한국과 협력관계를 구축하기 위해 “꾸준히 노력할 것”이라고 말했다. 그는 “케리 장관과 한국의 비핵화를 위해 3국간 협력이 있을 것임을 동의했다.”고 전했다.  한국과 일본이 영토와 역사문제로 갈등을 겪으면서 미국은 지역안보 문제를 해결하기 위한 3국간의 협력을 추진하는 데 어려움을 겪었다. 미국은 지난 12월 아베 총리의 야스쿠니 신사 참배에 대해서 실망감을 표했지만, 이번 면담에서는 한•일 갈등에 대해서 직접적인 언급은 하지 않았다. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>In U.S., Japan's FM says close ties with S.

After talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. capital Friday, Japan's top diplomat emphasized the importance of mending ties between Seoul and Tokyo."There are difficult issues in the relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea, but Republic of Korea is an important neighbor for Japan," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters, with Kerry standing next to him.He added the Japanese government will make "tenacious efforts" for a cooperative relationship with South K

Samsung Electronics Co. won’t be penalized for its efforts to exclude certain Apple Inc. products from the U.S. market after the Justice Department closed an investigation without taking action. The department’s antitrust division closed its review because the U.S. Trade Representative in August vetoed an import ban won by Samsung against some older Apple iPhone models, the U.S. said in a statement today. The case involved Samsung patents on essential technology used throughout the mobile-phone

국가정보 유출혐의로 미국 정부의 의해 기소된 미국의 군사안보전문가 스티븐 김(김진우) 박사가 유죄를 인정했다. 김 박사는 미국 최대의 국립 핵연구기관 리버모어 연구소 소속이던 2009년 5월 국무부 공보담당자로부터 폭스 뉴스 기자에게 북한핵 문제를 설명해 주라는 요청에 응했으나 보도후 기밀을 누설했다는 혐의로 수사를 받게 됐다.김 박사는 워싱턴DC 소재의 연방지방법원에서 열린 심리에서 자신이 간첩법을 위반했다고 시인했다. 해당 정보는 북한의 군사적 능력과 대비태세와 관련된 내용이며 TS/SCI급으로 분류된 정보였으며 김 박사는 직책상 이런 정보에 접근이 가능했다고 검찰 측은 강조했다.매킨 검사는 "스티븐 김은 자신이 내부고발자(whistleblower)가 아니며, 자신이 행위가 미국을 위험에 처할 수 있다는 점을 인정했다"고 밝혔다.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Korean-American man pleads guilty on secret leak cha

A former regulator says a 2013 shooting which nearly knocked out Silicon Valley's power supply was a terror attack, possibly testing for a bigger strike, but others cast doubt on the claim.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Friday it could not rule anything out, but that the attack on an electricity substation near San Jose was more likely a criminal matter, rather than terrorism-related.Shooters using semi-automatic weapons caused extensive damage to 17 transformers in the attack in